The population in the United States is aging and living longer lives due to medical advances. Individuals 65 and older are the fastest growing sector in the United States (U.S.). By 2030, there will be about 72.1 million older persons, more than twice their number in 2000. As that population continues to age, injuries, surgeries for knee and hip replacements and chronic conditions will become more prevalent. Resistance exercise can help to prevent and treat these conditions. Elastic resistance exercise is the industry standard for rehabilitation since bands and tubing are lightweight, portable, and effective. Unfortunately, many traditional systems are complicated to use requiring configuring to set up and perform each exercise. The more complicated the exercise, the lower the adherence rate which leads to longer recovery times, incomplete recovery and poorer health outcomes. Low exercise adherence increases health care costs not to mention the mental and emotional costs. Therapeutic fitness devices are needed that make complicated resistance exercise simple to help increase compliance. In turn, simplicity can help speed recovery; improve physical function, health outcomes and quality of life.
The majority of exercise devices are designed for those who are in good health. Individuals who have limited mobility due to an injury, surgery or chronic condition would benefit greatly from gentle exercise that is simple to perform. Exercise devices that are simple for rehabilitation professionals to prescribe and easy for clients to use in-clinic, at home or the office are needed.
The drawings have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements in the figures may be expanded or reduced to help improve the understanding of the embodiments of the present invention. Similarly, some components and/or operations may be separated into different blocks or combined into a single block for the purposes of discussion of some of the embodiments of the present invention. Moreover, while the invention is amenable to various modifications and alternative forms, specific embodiments have been shown by way of example in the drawings and are described in detail below. The intention, however, is not to limit the invention to the particular embodiments described. On the contrary, the invention is intended to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.